Portable battery boxes which are suitable for deployment of electrical power in convenient forms and in remote locations are known. In those known portable battery boxes, batteries are disposed in housings for the protection of the batteries and recharged in those housings. The advantages of the battery boxes include that the boxes protect the batteries themselves, componentry associated with charging and discharging, and that the housings facilitate ease of handling and reduce potential for injury to users.
However, monitoring the recharging of the batteries disposed in the battery boxes is inflexible and difficult in known models of portable battery box, in that there is little useful information about the charging process indicated. Furthermore, in some known devices, the charging is ineffective. There may be several reasons for these difficulties. First, a charging method applied to some types of batteries is not always effective for other types of batteries, depending on the chemical composition of the battery and other factors, and if the battery in the box is changed to a different type, the charging may be ineffective. In addition, in some box designs, access to the battery terminals is inhibited by some structural member or, on the other hand, the terminals are not adequately protected, and thus exposed to users which is dangerous.
Also, the batteries are heavy and lifting known battery boxes by their lids can cause deformation of selected areas of the box, which can cause the release of connecting cleats and clips and the like, which may release the battery from the box or release corrosive fluid from the battery into surrounding areas or worse, onto users.
Known battery boxes also include limitations and in controls and monitoring devices.
The present inventors have developed an improved charging apparatus in the form of a battery box, which may ameliorate one or more of any abovementioned disadvantages.